by Matthew Noonan
30. August 2006 03:05
Rick Strahl of West Wind Technologies (based in Maui, making Rick my personal hero) has an interesting blog post about open source software and the NDoc utility. I have to admit, he makes some good points about why you should charge for software, and the same issues he raises about the difficulty of maintaining and supporting free software have lately weighed heavy on my mind as well.
As you may or may not know, I and the people who contribute their time to EasyObjects can do so only nights and weekends. I personally have a full time job (most of the time) as an independent consultant. That means EO at best gets third-rate attention. As you may have guessed by now, I would like to change that. 
Now, you may be swearing (at me) right about now, so let me tell you up front, there will still be a free version of EasyObjects 2.0. I haven't decided what exactly it will look like just yet, or what functionality it will have, I'm not sure at this point. But I'm making the commitment here and now to keep at least one version free. Also, the EO 1.x libraries, including the forthcoming version 1.2, will also remain free forever.
What does all this mean for the future? Changing from free software allows me to dedicate more time to EO, including better support and more timely development. This can only lead to a better product, one that I believe can avoid becoming obsolete (or worse, dead).
I hope that everyone can make the transition with me.
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